Air travel has become an increasingly more convenient and cost effective mode of travel over the last several decades, and, with the proliferation of such travel, there have been many advances in corresponding methods and technologies. Even airports themselves have been steadily evolving, offering more and more features and creature comforts to make the travel experience more enjoyable and satisfactory for the customer. However, with all of the advances of the past decades, there still exists the all too frequent incidents of lost luggage. Airlines scan bag tags to determine the location of the bag and match it up with the correct flight. However, one problem with this system is that it is dependent upon the workers' scanning each and every bag per flight, and this fails to occur far too often. Also, the airline industry of today, like many other companies, has gone through quite a bit of downsizing, resulting in less workers to perform the various jobs, making baggage service even slower and less accurate.
In some instances, a traveler may arrive at one destination while that traveler's luggage will arrive at another destination, and the traveler is inconvenienced by the delay in having his or her luggage returned. In other instances, the traveler's luggage may never be located. For example, in 2008 one major airline in the United States reported the permanent loss approximately 6.73 out of each 1,000 checked bags, a number that was up 40% from the previous year. In other words, the customers who checked those lost bags will never see their personal belongings again. Another major U.S. airline reported 10,000 bags missing per day. To make matters even worse, as TSA regulations tighten due to terrorism and other concerns, the amount of people checking luggage is increasing. Also, many pieces of luggage look alike, making it possible that someone may inadvertently pick up a bag from the baggage carousel that does not belong to them. Airlines may typically spend millions of dollars each year on locating and delivery of delayed or lost baggage. One airline reported an average expense of $50 for each delayed bag, and no one seems to have an answer regarding how to do the job better.
Typically, if an airline permanently loses a customer's luggage, the customer may recover up to $2,000 as compensation, but that customer will never recover the personal belongings. Thus, while the airline may compensate a traveler financially for lost luggage, many customers would understandably rather be able to locate their own lost luggage and the items contained therein. Therefore, it is desirable for the traveler to be able to conveniently track and/or locate his or her luggage outside of the system employed by the airlines and airports. As we move into a global information society, it is expected that the desire for improved baggage services advance with the information technology. Such a convenience as allowing real time updates regarding the luggage location sent from the luggage to the user would provide confidence to the traveling public.